Katara's eyes creaked open as trickles of morning sunlight poured inbetween her window's shutters. She blinked at the dust particles drifting through the calming sprinkle of rays and yawned deeply, stretching out her legs and flexing her toes. She was careful not to budge her right shoulder too much, as a warm ball of orange fur was planted over it. Katara carefully squirmed out from under her friend's head, smirking at Jane's agape mouth as her face sunk into the pillow with a snort. As she slid out from under the covers, she wrapped her arms across herself and shivered. She exchanged her socks for padded, wool ones and threw on an ugly but warm winter sweater from her closet. It had the general shape of a reindeer knitted into its material with abstract lines around in an assortment of colors that baffled. An old floorboard beneath the carpet creaked from her weight as she crossed over it, and Toph stirred a bit from a few feet away, pulling the sleeping bag over her head. Katara breathed out, expecting a cloud of vapor, but was thankful that she didn't see one. That meant someone else must've already turned the heat on. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand: [9:48am].

Downstairs was quiet and serene, the dim sunlight passing through the windows. The tree was sparkling with all of its lights on, a batch of presents nestled underneath. Korra was in a lump on the couch like usual, while Hakoda was in the kitchen, Aang sitting on one of the stools at the counter that divided it from the living room.

"We're going to need to get everyone up soon," Hakoda advised. "Bato will be here soon with a certain package." Hakoda said in a hushed voice to his daughter while he gave Aang the light breakfast snack he'd prepared.

While Jane trudged downstairs, Katara left Toph in the hall for a moment to assist Aang.

"Here, I'll show ya a trick," she said with mischief, reaching out her hands and wedging her fingers into her brother's armpits. His body tightened and squirmed, holding back snickers. "That's right, get up," Katara taunted. Sokka suddenly burst out a laugh, popped open his eyes and breathed out a plea for her to stop. "There ya go, Aang. I give you permission to abuse this in the future," Katara slyly advised her friend as she headed back out of the room and led Toph down.

"Whyyyyyy?" Sokka gasped desperately, clutching at his sides with a yawn.

"Haha, that's what happens when you won't wake up, I guess," Aang picked. "And I won't be afraid to use this power, either."

"Grrraaahhh..."

As the girls traversed the stairs, Jane stood in the living room, gawking at Korra with some surprise. The young woman was stretching from her spot on the couch, wearing a white t-shirt with a red Canadian maple leaf on it. Jane couldn't help but notice Korra's shockingly muscular arms - she'd not seen her friends' cousin in anything but a long-sleeved shirt until now. Korra was pretty ripped to backup her boasts of being so tough. Jane found herself envious. Her muscles weren't what they had once been, and even at her leanest, she had never had such toned biceps on her own stickly limbs.

"What?" Korra grumbled with a grouchy frown at Jane's staring.

"Heh." Jane crossed her arms. "You awake yet?"

"Bah." Korra tossed her arm, scratching the back of her head. Her brown hair was in a hundred directions and she had dark bags under her eyes. "Merry fuckin' Christmas," she bid Jane with a snarky smile.

"Pff. Yea, you, too," Jane laughed. As Katara and Toph entered the living room, Jane shook her head at Katara. "Where did you get that thing?" she asked, pointing to Katara's chest.

"That man has quite some taste," said Hakoda, walking through. "By the way, ladies, there's some toast and jam in the kitchen, feel free to help yourselves." He nodded to Katara. "I'm going to go wake your grandmother."

"Sorry, Sokka, no meat yet," Aang eased him as they descended. "But that cherry jam is really good. I've never had it before."

"Oh, cool. I forgot we still had some of that...It'll have to make due for now."

"We'll have a proper meal after presents," assured Hakoda. "Bato will be showing up in a little bit, so we need to be ready."

"Oh right," Sokka whispered, wide-eyed. A childish glee spread over his face, and Aang raised his brow. While Sokka cupped a hand over Aang's ear and gave a short explanation, Toph was crunching down her toast.

"Haha, hey, careful, you're gonna get crumbs all over...-" Katara gave up with an amused sigh as Toph didn't heed her any mind, making a mess of her food, licking sticky preserves from her fingers when she was done. While she smacked her lips together with a satisfied grin, she flinched at Katara's calm hands sweeping crumbs from her sweatpants and sweatshirt. In her tending to her friend, she noticed the girl's bare toes were pink. "Aren't your feet cold?" she worried.

Toph shrugged.

"Maybe a little, I dunno."

"Um...Do you...want socks?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"I'm...going to go get you some socks, you goofus." Katara pushed Toph's bangs out of her face before heading upstairs. Toph lingered while the racket of the others eating filled her ears. She supposed that her feet were pretty chilly...

"So Twinkle-Toes," said Toph casually, standing in the middle of the living room. "You better not have made me a drawing, or you're dead."

"Haha..." Aang laughed off her threat, but didn't clarify.

"No son of mine is going to sleep on a chair," Gran-Gran could be heard from the stairway a moment later. "You're a hard-working man, you need your rest more than I do."

"It's fine, Mom," Hakoda put her at ease. "I'm not going to have my own mother sleeping on the floor. You can use my bed while you're here."

"If, um...If it's a problem, maybe we can let Gran-Gran borrow my bed?" Katara offered timidly from the base of the stairs, a pair of fresh footwear in hand.

"Now, now, you and your friend don't need to be throwing out your backs while you're still young."

"W-well, I didn't know Dad was sleeping on one of the chairs," Katara mumbled with some guilt. "I mean...-" She turned to Jane as she entered the living room. "Jane, would you be OK sleeping on the floor for a while?"

"Sokka, just so you know," Hakoda began as Sokka pulled out a banana from the fridge for his snack. "You'll probably want to leave some room in that pit of yours tomorrow."

"What's that?"

"Because your gift from me is that I'm taking you out to a proper buffet downtown."

"Downtown?"

"Found a place in Toronto. It'll be a father/son trip. Sound good to you?"

Sokka grinned wide as he peeled the banana.

"Sounds like a good present to me!"

"Sooo...What're we all doin'?" Toph wondered. She could hear paper crinkling straight ahead, behind where she knew the coach sat.

"Sorting stuff out," Aang explained. He hefted a long box from under the tree, taking care not to knock anything off the pine branches.

{To: Aang}{From: Katara}

"Whoa, what the...-?" He was baffled by its size. Definitely wasn't something they had brought with them on the way over.

"Heh, so she really did get one...I don't know what Kat was thinking," Jane skeptically mused, scratching her chin.

Aang raised a brow to her and shrugged, passing Jane the clump of gifts labeled with her name.

"Hey, you find what I got ya yet?" Toph wondered.

"Nope, not...not yet," Aang grunted, bending down to crawl under the tree. He finally found what he'd been looking for - it had gotten pushed back. The small box wasn't wrapped but had a tag with Toph's name written on it. Aang stared at it, his expression waning with doubt for a moment. He took a deep breath and got up, trotting over to Toph. By now Katara had come back and was forcing Toph to stick pink and white striped socks on.

As he waited for Toph to finish this, he glanced at Katara with a fretful look. She smiled reassuringly back at him and nodded, gesturing him to go ahead.

"Hey, er...-" Toph was sitting on the coach at this point, wriggling her toes to test the comfort of the socks. "Here's your gift." Aang placed the box right in Toph's lap and she immediately grabbed it, touching its surface with all her fingers. She popped it open and carefully poked her index into it. Squishy padding. A split-second later, she came across a smooth, dry texture. Round. She pinched it with her pointer and thumb and carefully pulled it up from the box. It was...definitely a ring. Not metal, though. She found it most curious.

"Whoa..."

"Uh, yea, it's...-"

"Wood."

"Right. I, uh...I made it."

"You made this?"

"Heh, yea...I needed some help, but, uh...Yep. I hope it's the right size..."

Toph thumbed it with care. Its surface was smoothly sanded and pleasant to the touch. She slipped it onto her right ring finger. Its shape wasn't a perfectly circular ring, but it fit snugly.

"Oh. W-well, I mean...I wanted to give you something I made, and...I dunno. For some reason, wood seemed...like a good choice."

"Grows from the earth," Toph mused.

"Haha, yea."

"I got you something I made, too."

"Oh?"

"Yea...Hey, Katara, could you...-?"

"Right." Katara retrieved a square, nearly flat package and gave it to Aang. It was inscribed with Katara's handwriting, unsurprisingly.

Aang opened it up with careful curiosity, revealing a jewel case with a cover. It was a photo of Toph frowning with a Santa Claus hat pushed over her face. The title of this album read:{A Very Twinkly Toed Xmas}{The Blind Bandit}

Aang burst out a laugh from the unexpected bizarreness of this present.

"Little insecure there, eh," Sokka corrected as he trotted in with a half-eaten banana in hand. "Come on, Sis, we're back in Maple-Land."

["So this is an album I made for old Twinkle-Toes."]

"What the hell?" Sokka muttered, immediately glancing at Toph while the girl's voice played through the stereo.

"Toph made Aang a CD," Katara briefed him. His brows raised and he nodded with surprise.

["Aaaand...yea. I dunno."]["Pfffff. Tophie, you're not so good at introductions."]["Blah...OK, hey...I got it."]["Yea?"]["We are the Blind Bandit, and we're here to sell-out and stuff! ONE! TWO! ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!"]

Sokka exploded a laugh and Aang, who was already giggling from the cover, joined him. Katara smiled and rolled her eyes as guitar chords were strummed out.

["~It's Christmas at ground zero, there's music in the air~The sleigh bells are ringing and the carolers are singing while the air raid sirens blare~"]["rrrrooooooOOOOOOooooo..."]

"What the-...? Is that Meng making a siren sound?" Aang blurted.

"We've got a full-on professional production goin' on here," Toph gloated.

Gran-Gran rested in the recliner and raised her frail arms, snapping her fingers and swaying slowly with a dry smile on her face.

"Granny likes it," Korra observed, still bleary eyed as she bent over to her small pile of gifts. She reached for one, only to have Hakoda rush over to stop her.

"Ah-ah, you have to open yours last," he taunted as Korra observed a huge present that looked like a potato sack of sorts.

"Whaaaat?" Korra whined. "The heck is this, anyway...?" She rotated a thick, disc-shaped present from Sokka.

"Oh, um...Cool." As Jane tore them open, Aang discussed with Toph how he had never heard this song before, while she explained how it was about nuclear fallout. "Whoa..." Jane's eyes lit up as she opened the box from Katara. A pair of tall, boot-length converse greeted her - striped black and yellow. "You're shittin' me," she said with furrowed brows and a smile. "These are rad."

"Now you don't have to wear those gloomy big boots all the time," Katara suggested.

"Whoa, dude, this is too cool," Jane cried as she lifted a metal belt buckle with a fat bee on it. "Thanks, man!" she said to Sokka.

"Pretty soon every frickin' thing you wear will have bees on it, you loon," Sokka warmly replied. "Aang, here."

Aang opened his gift from Sokka to find a classy white tie with the House of Aero logo toward the bottom and elegant, swirling lines running across it, like wind.

"Whoa, this is nice," murmured Aang.

"I figured since ya gave your last tie to Shamrocks over there, you needed a new one."

"Ha, yea...Thanks."

"No problem."

While Gran-Gran and Hakoda exchanged different articles of clothing - which seemed to be the trend this year - Katara opened up her box from Toph. It contained a black hoodie with a white section down the center, two eyeballs on the sides of the hood, and a beak pattern on the hood's end.

"Yep. Glad you dig it. I just figured you'd want something like that."

"It's perfect, I love it..." Katara went straight to work pulling off her Christmas sweater and popping the hoodie over her pajama shirt. She then examined what Jane got her. She peered into the box, Jane staring at her with keen, narrowed eyes. Katara's face went red and she closed the box immediately.

"Jane," she whispered with amused embarrassment.

"Whaaat?" Jane reacted with a shrug. "You like penguin stuff, don't ya?" she teased with a mischievous grin. "Now you can wear penguin stuff inside and out."

"You're...you're...-" Katara waggled her finger, smiling a goofy grin, but a conclusive statement never came out.

"Oh, cool..." Toph whapped herself in the forehead with the card. With her current state of being relatively money-less, it'd be cool to still be able to support a fellow musician. "Yea, I think I've got some ideas. Thanks."

"What duh?" Sokka spewed, staring at a cluster of tins of strong mints.

"Altoids," Jane explained. "You talk so damn much and eat so much junk...and with all those energy drinks rotting your teeth out, ya know...I figured-""Heeeeyyyy.""Haha..."

"I just thought that it'd be cool if we shared a family journal. You, me, Sokka...We pass it around and all write things in it over time. Then the next generation of Kesuks will have all of our knowledge in one place, right?"

"I see..." Hakoda opened the book and noticed the first few pages were full.

"Sokka and I already got you started," Katara explained.

{12/14/2010}{The semester's almost over, and I can't wait to head on vacation. Our college friends will get to come spend the break with us and it'll be a perfect time for our Dad to get to know them. When you have a Dad as amazing as we do, you can't help but want to share.}

As Hakoda read on, Aang showed Korra her drawing he'd made.

"I'm going to get these all framed for you guys when I get back on campus, he assured."

Korra stared at the serene, bold face of a polar bear, its black eyes stern and strong. It stood on all fours, noble and elegant despite its stature. The freezing arctic landscape rolled behind the beast, a mountain of ice far in the distance.

"Damn, Kid, you're pretty good," Korra muttered.

The next page had a bold warrior with fierce eyes standing atop a cliff, one greave planted on a rock. His head was covered by a leather helmet fashioned after a wolf's head, and his fur-edged cap rustled in the wind. He raised a glorious arm in the air, wielding a metal boomerang as he shouted a battle cry.

"Whoamaigawd, that's me!" Sokka squealed like a girl. "Freaking baller!" Aang laughed at his reaction and flipped to the next page.

An adorable creature stared at Katara with beady eyes, whiskers poking from its pointed snout. It stretched out its four arms - flippers, really - and waddled along.

"That's so adorable," Katara cooed.

"It's an otter-penguin," Aang explained. "I remembered that you said otters were your second favorite animal, soooo...I worked my magic. I think he turned out pretty neat."

Jane stared at the detailed shading of the girl in the drawing. The drawing stared back with dull-set brows but a hopeful glimmer in her eyes, hair thick but groomed, no signs of acne but face dotted with spots. She was smiling, her cheeks blushing just a little.

"Man, you need some self-esteem boostin', army girl," Korra sighed. "Lemme show ya how it's done." She glowered over Aang, knuckles on her hips, eyes narrowed. "So, Aang - Short Stuff...Am I hot, or what?"

"Errrmmm..." Aang's face went pale as he grimaced, more from fear at her beefy biceps than anything else.

"Fuckin' right, I am!" Korra cawed, smacking him on the back. "Jane, ya gotta own your look. Ya get what I'm sayin'?"

"Whatever," Jane huffed, not appreciating the limelight being shoved in Korra's direction. It was easy for her to make it seem so simple. She was clearly on the 'woman' end of the biological spectrum with curves and bosom and even fucking muscle to match. Jane was a twig who had to take pills to remind her body that it was a girl, much less a 'woman.' Damnit all...

"Hey, now," Toph snipped, leaning her head over the coach's spine. "I know lil' Twinkle-Toes here is a stud-muffin and all, but hey, back off, sisters, he's mine."

Korra frowned at this remark, clearly not so keen on such a comment given the recent history involved, while Katara smiled weakly and Jane nodded in approval, slapping Aang on the shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry, there, Gimpy, Aang's more man than I think I can handle," Jane joked. Aang shook his head dubiously at their picking, pushing his bangs so they slicked to one side, and Katara gave him a quick side-squeeze before dragging over the large present she'd gotten for him as Gran-Gran tried on large, puffy ear-muffs from Katara.

"Here." Katara scooted the gift along the carpet to Aang.

"Oh, right, super-huge-weird present," Aang reminded himself. He was picked on for having trouble opening the box but when all was said and done he managed to pull out...

"A skateboard?" Aang studied the device as if it were a pinup magazine. He rolled a wheel and smiled as it spun. He admired the design on top - black with a large blue arrow pointing forward. "Oh, sweet, the college logo..."

"I painted that on there for you," Katara told him with some pride. "You like it?"

"Whoa, whoa, since when was Aang a boarder?" Korra called foul.

"W-well, I'm...I'm not," Aang admitted. "I just...kinda was always curious about it, but...just never got around to getting a skateboard."

"You remember back in the spring?" Katara pointed to him, straightening the fedora on her head. "You said how skateboarding always looked cool to you, and if you had one, you'd learn how."

"Y-yea, I-...That does sound familiar..."

"So now you have an excuse to go out and get some exercise when it gets warm out."

"Totally! Thanks, Katara...I'll definitely use this...For sure."

Katara could see his eyes spark with a bit of ambition as he marveled at the gift. Maybe picking up a hobby like this could help him shake off some of this 'not-manly-enough' nonsense he let cling to him.

"Whoa, pretty spiffy," Toph congratulated her boyfriend. "Gonna have to watch out, you're gonna tear it up on campus when all the damn snow melts, right?"

"What do we have left?" Sokka scooped up the last two gifts that weren't Korra's.

"Hey, Toph," Sokka lightly bopped her in the head with the box before stuffing in her hands. She scowled at his brutality and opened it. Another jewelry case.

"Christ, what's giving you guys the idea I'm a jewelry person?" She pretended to be offended, but her lips hung open when she reached the actual piece - it was long, a string composed of many pieces. They had straight-cut edges, but the sides of each stone had a rough, gritty texture. It was unlike any other stone she'd ever felt. "Whoa, dang, what is this, some space rock or something?"

"Haha, I wish," chuckled Sokka. "That's a bracelet made from volcanic rock."

"Straight from the source," Toph observed with an impressed smile. "I dig it. 'Kay, let's slap this sucker on..." She felt the edges and found the clasps, then tried to wrap it around her left wrist. It was entirely too large. "Uhhh...Hey, Snoozles, did ya pick up one made for football players by mistake?"

"Oh, heheh, naw, Toph, you're, uh-...It doesn't go there."

"Say what, now?"

Sokka hesitated, but reached out and took the bracelet with care, slinging it around Toph's upper arm and connecting it.

"Damn, this thing...feels awesome," Toph squeaked, tightening her fists. "I feel like, even more bad-ass than usual now! With all this bling I've got goin' on."

"You look a bit more bad-ass," Sokka acknowledged, stroking his goatee as he squinted at her arm critically. "I do believe I've contributed my superior fashion intellect to all of you today."

"What does that make this, a fuckin' tiara?" Korra joked, holding up the present from earlier.

"Ah, right, Bato's waiting outside," Hakoda muttered to himself, closing the journal he had been reading and slipping into a pair of boots as he fled out the front door.

"Last one's for Katara," said Sokka. "It's from Dad."

"Oh. Hm." After discovering the gift, Katara held it up in the air by its long chain for all to see. It was a rustic, polished pocket watch with an embossed lighthouse on its front.

Jane whistled in awe. "Wow, classy stuff."

"Whoa, is that an antique?" Aang wondered.

"I...I don't know," said Katara.

"That was your other grandmother's," advised Gran-Gran with a sage finger. "Your father found it when he was doing some summer cleaning."

Katara pressed the button on top to pop it open, studying the old mechanism at work, ticking the second hand along its axis of roman numerals.

"It's...gorgeous," Katara murmured with delight. Jane smiled at the childish glow in Katara's eyes. She pictured Katara in her black slacks, blouse, denim vest, wearing that odd fedora she had on, her wooden relic pipe in her mouth, suitcase in one hand, checking the time on this watch in the other. At least now it all added up - Katara collected old relative heirlooms.

"Now all ya need's a monocle and you'll be set," Jane teased.

"Huh?"

"With all the other stuff you've got, I mean. Old man stuff."

"Oh, ha, yea, I...guess it's kind of a style I like, huh?"

"Because that's not weird at all. Old-Man Style."

"Not as weird as a bumble-bee fetish."

"Uhhhh, you did not just go there."

"Pretty sure I did."

"I will punch you," Jane threatened devilishly, balling her fist.

The front door was suddenly flung open and Hakoda and Bato entered.

"All right, Korra, front and center!" Hakoda commanded.

"Psh. Yes, Sir." Korra came up to them as Bato followed inside, greeting everyone with enthusiasm. He held in his hand a large box with metal grating - the kind one carries pets in. Korra's eyes bulged wide at this sight, and she glared at Hakoda with an incredulous expression.

"Remember when we stopped by town a while back?" Hakoda explained as the rustling of newspaper could be heard from inside the cage. "Well, heh...We knew you were feeling a bit lonely by yourself, so...we thought it was only sensible to get a companion for my lonely niece."

Korra spun around, hand still stuck to her forehead with shock as she stared at the rest of the group. She smiled sheepishly at them - the first time either Aang or Jane had seen such a look on her face. She whirled back around and unlatched the door. She yelped out in surprise as the infant dog raced out, nearly making a dash for the crowd by the tree. Korra scooped up the precious pet with both hands and held her up in strong arms. The creature had pure white fur and bright blue eyes.

"What kind of dog is it?" Katara asked.

"A Husky," Korra breathed with awe, trying to contain the critter as she squirmed around. "I always wanted one when I was a kid, but...-"

"Never too late to make a friend," said Hakoda, petting the puppy on the head as it gawked about curiously, confused at its captivity. Korra seemed equally perplexed as to what to do with the fledgling animal, and opted to try rubbing her palm across its head. It pressed down its paws into her bosoms and leaned forward as she grimaced from the claws scratching. Some frantic licks across Korra's face and all was forgiven.

"So what's this new friend's name?" Aang wondered.

"Er, sooo...-" Korra rubbed her cheeks on her shoulders to get saliva off and gazed into the energetic eyes of this companion. "We're gonna call you 'Naga.'"

"An appropriately odd but awesome name," Jane laughed. She seemed to be surrounded by people with strange names. Why wouldn't the dog have one, too?

"Makes me think of snakes," Katara muttered to herself out of nowhere.

"Whaaat? That's not...complaining, that's...-""Do we need to pull up your Facebook and show you what I'm talkin' about?"

Korra glowered at Sokka with disdain, her pride chipped, as she carried her new pet over to the trio of presents in her name. Things immediately added up. She didn't even need to open them: a dish for food was the disc-shaped one, a bag of dogfood the huge, heavy one, and...probably a leash? Something like that for the last. Naga yelped out with eager energy, pushing her legs out, so Korra sunk to her knees to let the puppy roam.

"All right, geez, there ya go..."

As Naga raced across the living room like a sugar-buzzed child, Korra got back up and bashfully hugged her biological uncle and makeshift one.

"Thanks, guys..."

"Glad you came for Christmas this year, eh?" said Bato. "I'd say it's aboot time ya got yer own pet."

Korra snorted out a laugh at his exaggerated accent.

"Just aboot," she sarcastically replied.

"I can hear a puppy," Toph cried. "But it is not in my lap for to petting. Theez eez prohblem."

As Naga lost interest in Katara and went over to Aang, he scratched behind her ears and picked her up, carrying her over to Toph while Katara dialed the volume up on the stereo, which had been toned to a near mute level for presents.

["~From his beard to his boots he was covered with ammo~Like a big, fat, drunk, disgruntled Yuletide Rambo~"]

"You gotta get off the couch," he advised, to which Toph immediately slid onto the floor. Aang set the animal in Toph's lap and she laughed maniacally.

Sipping at his energy drink, Sokka glanced around the room, nodding to himself.

"I'd say that went well."

"Yea," Katara agreed.

["~And he smiled as he said with a twinkle in his eye~'Merry Christmas to all - now you're all gonnaDIE!'~"]

"Ha, yea, I-...Like I said, it doesn't make much sense yet. But I guess he said he really liked how I was campaigning for unity across all the dorms, you know? He told me he thought I'd be the right man for the job. So, I'm guessing it must have something to do with that. Or something?"

["Hm. Yea, that could be kind of interesting, I'm sure. Well, congrats, Zuko. That's pretty cool, it sounds like the President sees what I do in you."]

Zuko laughed nervously through his nose. "Thanks, Mai."

"ZuZu, are you done yammering with girlfriend?"

"Aaaand there she goes..."

["I'm not sure who has it worse off - me being a babysitter or you being baby-sat."]

"Very funny."

["You have a Merry Christmas, Zuko. I'll talk to you soon."]

"Yea, you, too. Love you."

["Love you, too."][Click.]

"What did you need, Azula?"

"You know, Father is very disappointed that his own son refuses to speak with him on Christmas."

"Good, let him be 'disappointed.' Kind of an understatement considering how I feel about him."

"So incorrigible," Azula muttered under her breath. "Regardless, Uncle is about to hurt himself trying to set up that gourmet coffee maker you got him. And why did you get him a coffee maker, anyway? You know he's a 'tea person.'"

"Iroh likes coffee, too," Zuko affirmed following Azula into the hall. "Just because he likes one doesn't mean he can't like the other."

"It just seems pointless to me," Azula dismissed.

"Why are you so snippy today all of a sudden?"

"What was that?"

"I mean, as snippy as you usually are. You've been kind of relaxed all week."

"Hmph. Well, I have a real business to tend to, not some mock politics. So when something goes wrong it falls to me to resolve it."

"Something went wrong at work?"

"You're the one who didn't want to be involved with it, so I'll spare you the burden."

"Uh...Okay, then..." Zuko and shrugged, letting it roll off.

"Aha, there you are, Nephew," said Iroh as they entered his kitchen. "I fear I may ruin my drink here..."

"Oh. Haha, no, no, Uncle, you...have to put the little cups-...See, these are the flavor for the drink, right?"

"Mm-hm..."

"You just put these in this compartment here, and then the machine makes it into coffee." Zuko prepared the device in a few seconds and had it start running while his phone vibrated.

"My, that's...much more simple than I expected," Iroh chuckled at his own ignorance. "Technology makes things so easy these days..."

"Heh...It makes some things more difficult, actually," Zuko muttered with a shrug as he pulled out his phone, still shaking.

[Incoming call...][FATHER][Ignore]

A/N:

A lotta references in this chapter, but I wanted to point out the prominent ones. Naga is of course the animal companion Korra will have in th upcoming series. A lot of readers originally wanted Appa to be an animal, but I just didn't see it fitting right. Appa works better as a location, which is often what he served on the show. He's like a gathering point for the characters. Plus, college students often can't have pets - not in dorms, anyway. Korra, however, isn't a college student. It just made sense. So now some of you wanting to see a little bit of an animal show up, there you go.

Toph's arm bracelet is of course a reference to the meteor rock Sokka gave her in the series. I imagine it looking like this.farm5(dot)static(dot)flickr(dot)com/4117/4885892999_9b76465cde(dot)jpg

dragonratjewellery(dot)com/images/18%2004%202011%20IMG_1065(dot)JPG

As for Katara's hoodie, think...something like this, but with the "beak" toned down by a LOT, and only on the top part. =3lookbook(dot)nu/look/1200285-Pingu

Sokka was originally going to give Katara a different kind of hat, but I love fedoras myself (I wear one a lot these days), and I've played a bit of Catherine, and one of the characters has one like this.storage(dot)siliconera(dot)com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/catherine_orlando_thumb(dot)jpgI couldn't resist. It's totally something Sokka would get his sister, and totally something that's a bit stylish but also just a bit weird, and I think this version of Katara would wear it.And also look sexy in it. I won't deny that ulterior motive. Girls + fedoras = pretty cute.

I promise that Weird Al covers do not make the entirety of Toph's album. But two are, so just use your imagination and imagine guitar covers of them. xDYoutube(dot)com/watch?v=t039p6xqutU&ob=av3eYoutube(dot)com/watch?v=HTGlUMvbhSw

The past couple of chapters are starting to allude to things that will be tying together a lot of questions people have had, so I'm excited to start rolling out those ideas as things come around. I wanted to include New Year's in this chapter, but it came out longer than I thought, probably the longest single scene in the history of the story so far. So by the end of Chapter 50 the story will officially have hit 2011 territory.

The Christmas present? xD Haha, I intentionally made that vague, but the truth to that (which may actually be shown later in the story) is that Jane got Katara underwear that is printed with a particular pattern. ^_^;

Wow, great descriptions in the beginning with Katara waking up. Sokka is ticklish.Did you misspell "couch" as "coach"? Like, "...behind where she knew the coach sat." I can imagine Jane wearing those "tall, boot-length converse" shoes.Bee themed everything for Jane. Hmm, based on Katara's comment about Jane's present for her, I'm guessing Jane got her penguin-themed undergarments?Lol, Sokka WOULD be super excited over Blu-Ray. I can picture Katara in that patterned fedora.Aang sketched Korra's animal guide, Sokka's wolf warrior outfit, and the otter-penguin creature! Ohh, I keep forgetting that when Aang has hair, he also has bangs.Nice change to Toph's meteor bracelet! Volcanic rock is the next best thing.When I read something that Korra says, I see the first letter of her name and think "Katara," but then I remember that Katara doesn't swear all that much.D'awwww! Naga makes an appearance. I can picture that scene.

"Incorrigible," was a vocab word.

Wow, thanks for including the links to all of the clothing objects that the characters wear in this chapter. It helps me to picture them better.Going to read the next chapter now.

I'm absolutely in love with this series! Just one question though. You keep saying that Korra is katara and Sokka's cousin, but I swear I read earlier that both of their parents were only siblings. Did I just read that wrong? Anyways besides that awesome story

Haha, oh snap, I just got served. Swear to God, funny story - I LITERALLY just realized that error earlier today and fixed it on FF.net, but haven't updated the corresponding DA chapter. Good eye! You're the first to point that out.

Originally, that was the concept, Korra wasn't even going to be a character in this story until later, and while writing that scene, I forgot that this detail got swapped. I switched it to elaborate that they were from Canada, instead.

So, to answer your question, no, you didn't read that wrong - and drat, I finally caught that mishap and fix it and I'm still found out. > When you write a story of this magnitude and slack off on editing, mistakes happen. xD

Aww~ Naga!!<3 :'D Speaking of which... are you going to add Mako and Borin in the story somehow? xDD That would be awesome lolHaha, and all their gifts sounded awesome~ The first thing that came to mind when I read that Toph's ring was wood, was the Swamp and its Spirit-Tree thingy that sorta led Aang to the image of Toph. xD;;

Hee~ anywayyy, happiness all around~ can't wait for the next chapter! lol

I know way back I alluded to Aang having a dream about a girl playing the piano and when he first heard Toph play he immediately felt in his gut like she was the one playing in his dream. =3

Yea, this was definitely a happy chapter. The next one will be, too, but will also open a door that's been getting banged at lately (one I'm pretty sure you've definitely noticed, as well as other people) so that'll lead to some awkwardness, and...well, the beginning of the second semester will be kind of crazy, I imagine. xD

Mako and Bolin will probably get cameos later on once you guys see what Korra's ultimate role in the story will be, but I don't intend to do much with them other than reference them and try to guess a bit as to what their personalities will be like.

I'm not sure if you missed the Author's Notes, but I was pretty open there with the fact that Orlando is in fact what inspired the particular fedora. Have only played and seen a bit of Catherine, can't wait to really sink my teeth into it.

It's true, but in Aang's case he literally does need them because he prefers hands-on drawing rather than digital drawing.

Of course, I think you meant that artist's usually already HAVE those things. The idea with Jane was that she gave the others more "practical" presents because that's kind of how she is. She's not as sentimental as Katara or even Sokka in that regard of things to wear - but notice that she got Katara something to wear.

Yea, that's what I figured you really meant. Well, Aang's the type who tends to buy his supplies as he needs them (he's a little lazy like that) and Jane doesn't think that far ahead to know if it's something he really needs. xD But it worked out well enough.

Lol, you're right. So many ideas for clothes now I'm torn between Katara;s penguin hoodie or the outfit Jane imagines her in..... Oh! Could you let people know I'm making plushies of them? That way in case anyone wants one of their own I can make 'em all at once.